Garage Door - Selection and Painting

Although we took a bit of a detour on the Back Bedroom series, we're actually continuing on with a theme of securing the exterior of the house. In Seattle's rainy climate, the war against water is a first priority. 

When we closed on the house and paid the outstanding utility bills so that the power could be turned on, it was a great surprise that the old garage door opener actually worked. The old single panel wood door was rotting at the bottom and did not seal properly against the floor. As a result, water could easily flow into the house. The new drain that we had installed when the sewer line was replaced was a great help against water intrusion, but the door still needed to be replaced.

Old door not lookin' so good.

Much garage door research ensued. In the end, we chose a door that would mimic the original carriage-style door, but would operate as a modern door. There are several vendors that make doors a bit like this, but we weren't always happy with the proportion of the windowed section to the rest of the door, or with the way the windows were installed, for that matter. It just wasn't a convincing facsimile.

Before painting.
After painting.	Two-toned look.

We wanted the door to match our paint scheme, which meant we had to paint it ourselves. It is an insulated fiberglass door, which Nick painted with our regular exterior latex paint. Our sales rep recommended frosted glass for the windows, but we wanted to be able to see out of the garage and decided on clear glass. Basements can make a person feel claustrophobic, so I am glad we went with the clear glass. 

No project is perfectly easy, and this project required reworking the framing for the door. Unfortunately, the available dimensions of the door were such that the framing would be wider on one side than the other in order for there to be room for the rails on the inside. Nick felt strongly that this would look silly. In order to correct the problem, we would have to pour concrete to extend the foundation and then patch in some brick to match the rest of the house. Hard enough on it's own, we also had to consider how to secure our home while working on this multi-day project. Oy!